A Fourth Man
by ladyofnite
Summary: How Gibbs decided whether or not to add McGee to the team. Spoiler alert: He did. And, I think he probably talked to Tony first.


A Fourth Man

Leroy Jethro Gibbs was not a man given to doubts. It wasn't that his life was perfect, not by any means. But he accepted his life as it had turned out. Marriage was obviously not a good idea, but it more than appeared that NIS, or now NCIS, was a place where he could do good. He'd known that since the moment Mike Franks had approached him about the job.

He'd done his duties, same as when he was with the Marines, and had enjoyed success at his job, enough so that they'd given him command of the Major Case Response Team. He'd only been at the job for around nine years, but he'd worked with a number of promising young agents.

None of them, however, had inspired the sort of loyalty he sought. He knew his values, his rules, were not exactly in line with the law all of the time, but he did his job. He needed a team that would follow him without question, so that he didn't have to fight those under him while also fighting those above him. It took entirely too long and was far too annoying.

He'd finally picked up a good man. After all these years, it had turned out he was hiding in Baltimore, of all places. He'd met a young lieutenant working down there who was every bit as cocksure and brash as he himself was. Anthony D. DiNozzo. The boy had bounced from police department to police department and would have likely burned out not too much longer if Gibbs hadn't snatched him up. He'd been interested in the boy from the moment he met him. DiNozzo had been arguing fiercely with his Captain about the actions he'd taken on a recent case, which had resulted in the capture of a serial killer, but had gone quite strongly against protocol.

Even knowing Gibbs had witnessed the dressing down his Captain had given him, DiNozzo had not hesitated to stand up to Gibbs when they'd worked the case Gibbs had brought down.

When DiNozzo's assistance with Gibbs' case had angered the Captain enough to fire the young lieutenant, Gibbs hadn't hesitated in the slightest to snap him up.

The boy had been on his team now for almost three years and Gibbs had never questioned his decision. DiNozzo was annoying, overly friendly with everyone he ever came across, most especially the women, but prone to brilliant flashes of insight. He made connections Gibbs would never make and followed Gibbs willingly enough. It wasn't that he would never question Gibbs- in fact, Gibbs counted on him doing so- but he would never do so in public.

His luck with his team had recently taken a turn for the better when he'd met DiNozzo. It hadn't been all smooth sailing- that business with Vivian Blackadder still gave Gibbs nightmares- but it had been a distinct turning point. Only a year ago, Gibbs and DiNozzo had met up with a young woman who worked with the Secret Service, flying on Air Force One with the President.

Young Kate Todd had proved her worth to him, willingly disobeying orders in order to see to it that justice was served. He'd been slightly hesitant about adding her onto the team, seeing as she'd been fired from the Secret Service for breaking a rule that he too held dear: Rule 12. But, he hadn't hesitated long. After all, he couldn't exactly be a hypocrite- he'd broken that rule as well, more than once. It was hard not to become attracted to those you worked with. You didn't get into careers like theirs without wanting to do what was right and so you were bound to see the best of your coworkers as you all tried to catch evil scum.

So, he'd taken the chance and snatched her up as well. Tony and Kate had meshed very well, working together while simultaneously providing each other the outlet they needed. Yes, they were annoying- annoying as hell, on more than one occasion- but he wouldn't have given them up for the world.

He was satisfied for awhile. He'd been working three-man teams since he'd joined up with Franks' team. The three of them worked well together, each bringing his or her strengths to the team.

He had been satisfied.

But his satisfaction hadn't lasted long at all. A series of cases kept pointing them back towards a very young, very green Special Agent named Timothy McGee. McGee was a brilliant kid, a genius at computers, and so earnest it would likely get him into trouble if the wrong person got a hold of him.

On the surface, McGee was nothing that Gibbs would want on his team. Gibbs and technology had a hate-hate relationship that Gibbs didn't ever plan on changing, whereas McGee lived for technology. Gibbs had, of course, checked the boy's background the first time he'd been TAD'd to Gibbs's team. Two bachelor's degrees, one Master's degree. Biomedical Engineering, Computer Forensics. Gibbs couldn't even guess what those meant, but he knew the kid could do almost anything on a computer.

Gibbs wanted him.

He could see the potential the boy had. NCIS was changing, however much he might want to deny it. The boy's skills were useful and he wasn't going to be in Norfolk forever. Someone was going to grab the kid sooner or later, he was being wasted in that little office. The boy was willing to stand up to Gibbs, something that rarely happened. He was willing to make a stand when he had an opinion, if only he could spit it out without stammering.

Yeah, he still needed training, quite a bit of it as he was so disadvantaged in background. But a few years of training and the instincts that Gibbs could already see so ingrained in the boy would develop nicely. He'd be an excellent agent.

Gibbs had always been part of a three man team. But, as he'd been told when he took over command of the MCRT, there were four desks there for a reason.

He leaned back in his seat, sighing in frustration. The empty desk sat opposite of him, taunting him.

He could see McGee at that desk, had seen McGee at that desk, and was wondering if he should see him at that desk on a more regular basis.

"Something wrong, Boss?"

He looked up in surprise to see Tony standing before him. The younger man was dressed casually, in a grey hoodie and casual jeans, not the clothes that he'd been wearing earlier at work.

"Tony, what are you doing here?" Gibbs demanded, surprised. He checked the clock. He'd sent Tony and Kate home at 2000 hours and it was well past 2200 now.

"Ah, Boss, you know I do my best work-"

"-at night." Gibbs finished, rolling his eyes. "I do believe I told you to get some sleep and that the paperwork could wait."

"Yeah, well." As always, when caught doing something out of character, Tony looked uneasy. "I just couldn't, you know, sleep. Thought I'd do something useful in the meantime. Are you alright, Boss?"

"Just thinking, DiNozzo." Almost against his will, Gibbs' eyes were drawn back to the empty desk.

"About?" Tony may act it, but he was most definitely not a fool. "McGee, right?" He too turned to look at the empty desk.

Gibbs nodded, unsurprised. Shortly before Kate had come along, after Vivian had been transferred back to the FBI, he and Tony had worked alone. The younger man had become frighteningly good at reading Gibbs in that period and that had never gone away.

"What do you think, Tony?" He asked suddenly. DiNozzo often claimed the title as Senior Field Agent and now he could earn it. "Between you and I, you think we can train up a rookie?"

Tony leaned against Gibbs' desk, pondering the question. As much as he teased the younger man, Tony knew that McGee had a lot of potential. Gibbs wouldn't have let McGee work with them more than once otherwise. "He's a good kid. Smart." Tony offered. "None of us know anything about computers. You know the other agents complain to the Director about how much of Abby's time we use up. He could help out with that and we can always use another agent when we go out in the field. He'd love the experience; he wants to be a field agent."

"Didn't answer my question." When he put his mind to it, sometimes even when he didn't do it intentionally, Tony could circle all the way around a question without ever touching on an actual opinion regarding the answer.

"I dunno, Boss." At least Tony had learned enough to know not to lie to Gibbs, or to try to tell him what he thought Gibbs wanted to hear. "The kid's green. Too green. I can't resist teasing him. And not just like Kate, some of the time. Every chance I get. Kate's still not the best of investigators, in spite of what she thinks. We're still training her and he's going to take a hell of a lot more work. Not to be too blunt, Boss, but you aren't the most patient of guys."

"And yet, still not answering the question." Gibbs had to smile. _Now_ he was doing it on purpose.

"I like him." Tony shrugged. "If you can keep from terrifying him and I can keep from annoying him to death and he can keep from falling in love with either Abby or Kate, I guess he'd do fine. He's held up so far under our unique team style. You haven't sent him crying yet, that I know of. He's been doing his best against me since the very first case he worked with us. He has Abby wrapped around his finger, Ducky already calls him 'Timothy' and he hasn't pissed Kate off unduly yet. If we don't take him, someone far less deserving will. He's not going to last in Norfolk long. He wants out of there too bad and he's insightful enough and talented enough that someone's going to want to take him. I don't think he cares where he goes, as long as he becomes active. I think he likes us. I think he'd like to be picked up by you."

Tony suddenly smirked, making him look a little more like he usually did. "He'd certainly like to be closer to Abby." A glare from Gibbs wiped the smirk from his face. "Of course, when he finds out about Rule 12, he may not be quite so interested in taking a place on this team."

Gibbs sighed. "I doubt he and Abby would ever work out. Far too different, in spite of their tattoos. I know he'd like to be on our team. He can be a great agent. He will be a great agent."

His agent grinned, standing with a flourish. "Well, we ought to be part of that then, shouldn't we?"


End file.
